Senior Year
by deeply-immortal
Summary: Riza Hawkeye has never had a pleasant high school experience. And when Roy turned on her, she was anything but happy. But hey, senior year is supposed to be better… right?  Royai, EdWin, HavReb, AlMay. AU
1. Too Loud

Riza groaned, rolling onto her back lazily as the painful screeches from her alarm clock filled the silence of her small, dark room. Light struggled to seep through the shades over her window, lightly painting her face with slits of gold. She mumbled under her breath, her ears ringing, and groped absently beside her, not ready to open her eyes just yet. A loud click brought peace back to her mind.

Riza's morning began the way all of her mornings did. First, she would pry her eyes open to see the blurry, red numbers of her alarm clock, always reading "6:00 AM". After blinking sleepily too many times and rolling pathetically from her tangled sheets onto her hard wood floor, she'd step into her little glass shower and let cold water spill down her body, snapping her awake with a sudden gasp. Her short, choppy hair only took minutes to dry, and from there she'd mindlessly grab the first skirt and shirt she could find, and proceed to head downstairs. She'd be out the door ten minutes later, an apple in one hand, her books in another. Her father would still be asleep, not bothering to wish her a good day at school.

The cold September air began nipping quietly, and Riza pulled down on her sweater, taking a crisp bite of her apple. She wasn't too bothered; she had always liked the fall. She couldn't help but smile at the smell of apple cider and the reds and yellows splattered on the leaves around her.

"Riza, hey!"

Riza paused, her apple in her mouth, and turned around. She smiled and pulled the apple away, smiling. "Hi Rebecca."

Rebecca had caught up to her, bending over and panting between her knees. "Jesus, Riza! You walk too fast!"

Rebecca had been Riza's friend since the fifth grade. Despite Rebecca's appearance, she was quite the tough girl. When she had gotten word of a boy stealing her classmate's lunch every day, she stormed over with her hands plastered on her hips and a hell of a lot of pain ready to be unleashed. The two were opposites, but Riza just somehow clicked with her.

"You know," Riza started, nodding to the beverage Rebecca held in her grasp like a precious family heirloom, "you drink too much iced coffee."

Rebecca stared at Riza, as if she had said the most offensive insult in the history of the world. "For your information, _Riza Hawkeye_, this is _not_ an iced coffee. This is a medium French vanilla with a caramel swirl, cream and two sugars, complete with a Styrofoam cup."

They _were_ talking about coffee, right?

Riza raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "My apologies."

Rebecca sighed, shaking her head. "Really, Riza. Sometimes I think that you just –"

Suddenly a jolt of cold and wet splashed the side of Riza, and she yelped, covering herself. Rebecca screamed loudly at the culprit; a red car zooming away. She was clinging tightly onto her dripping purse.

The car came to a sudden halt a little ways ahead of them, and the window slid down, a boy's face popping out.

"Aw, what's the matter, Rebecca?" he smirked. "You look a little wet."

"_Roy Mustang!"_ Rebecca screamed, marching over. "I'm going to _kill you!"_

Riza let her arm down from her face, looking over. Her face slowly scrunched together, shivering from either the cold or the anger. She couldn't say. Seeing Roy's face, though, was something she hadn't missed from the pleasant past three months of his absence from her life.

Breda was standing in the back seat of the car, his torso sticking above from the moon roof, howling with laughter. Havoc was in the passenger sheet, grinning with a cigarette in his hand.

Rebecca thrust her purse into Roy's face, fuming. "Do you even know how much I _spent_ on this? _Do _you? _Two hundred dollars_, you _ass hole!"_

Havoc leaned forward so he could see out the window, his grin still present. "Aw, lighten up, Rebecca. It's just a bag. It's no big deal."

"_Jean!"_ Rebecca growled, her target quickly shifting. "What do you mean _no big deal? _How could you even let this happen?"

Havoc waved it off casually, puffing some smoke from his mouth. "Relax, would you? It's just all in good fun. So no hard feelings, okay?"

Rebecca stared him down, her expression less than fazed. "_No hard feelings?_" She straightened herself out, glaring at him from the side. "Screw that." She began walking, calling back, "We're _through!"_

Havoc's heart stopped, his jaw instantly dropping, the cigarette falling from his hand to his leg. "W-what...?" His expression stayed the same as he stared with wide eyes at her back growing smaller in the distance, and then suddenly yelped. "O-ow!" Havoc quickly grabbed the cigarette burning into his pant leg and threw it out the window, sticking his head out, yelling after her. "N-no, wait! Rebecca! I-I'm sorry! Come back!"

Rebecca didn't even glance behind her. "No! Come on, Riza!"

This episode didn't exactly come as any surprise to Riza. This wasn't the first time they had broken up, and it wouldn't be the last. Why couldn't people just either stay together, or stay separated?

Breda was crying himself helpless with laughter. "Dude! She totally just dumped your ass!"

Havoc didn't seem to be paying attention, still staring at Rebecca with the same half shocked and half heartbroken expression he always put on when this happened. Riza felt sort of sorry for him, but she could never come to forgive him. She couldn't forgive any of them.

After glaring Roy with daggers one final time, Riza ran off to meet Rebecca, smudging away mud from her face. That damn Roy Mustang had some nerve.

"Are you okay?" Riza asked Rebecca, glancing over. It was a dumb question; one that Riza always asked but wondered why she did the moment the words came from her mouth. The answer was always –

"_No!_" Rebecca huffed, powerwalking. Riza noted that Rebecca powerwalked whenever she was angry. "I'm _not_ alright, Riza! Not when that car of _jack asses_ are still breathing!"

Riza didn't even get the chance to answer, because said car was all of the sudden slowly driving beside them. Their bad rap music was blasting throughout what used to be a peaceful street.

Riza glared ahead of her, trying her best to ignore them like Rebecca. But that _music!_ She pressed her hands tightly against her ears, glancing over. She couldn't deal with this.

"Can you turn that crap _down?_" Riza glared, wincing.

"What?" Roy smirked, putting his fingers on the knob, twisting it. "Turn it up?"

The music, which Riza didn't think was possible, got even _louder_. She snapped her head down, shutting her eyes tightly, whimpering in annoyance. "I'm getting a _head ache!"_

Roy's smirk grew, continuing to increase the volume. "Sorry, Riza. Can't hear you."

Riza sharply turned to him, her hands over her ears. "Go away, Roy!"

Roy grinned. "Aw, don't be like that, Riza. I just wanted to say hi to my two friends. What's wrong with that?"

Riza scoffed, irritated. "We're _not_ friends."

"Says who?"

"Says _you!_" Riza growled.

Roy put on a very fake look of surprise. "_What?_ Riza, I'd _never!"_

"Oh, cut the act!"

Rebecca, unable to take it anymore, stepped in suddenly with, "She said _go away_, Mustang!" and whipped her iced coffee into the car.

Roy quickly ducked and let it swoosh past him, letting it hit a very dejected Havoc, who was snapped back into reality on impact.

"H-hey!" he yelped, panicking at the coffee spilling from his hair down to the rest of him.

Roy looked over at Havoc and managed a small smirk, turning back to Rebecca. "That wasn't very nice, Rebecca."

Rebecca growled and muttered profanity under her breath, storming away. Havoc was moping to himself, mumbling nonsense.

Riza glanced at Roy. "Just stop, would you?" And before Roy could protest, Riza ran off to join Rebecca. She could care less about any words that spewed from his mouth.

Roy paused, blinking a few times, before his smirk returned to his face. "See you guys at school!" he called behind them, and blurred by, the music fading slowly into the horizon line.

Rebecca growled, watching the car. "And _this_ is why I hate Roy Mustang."

Riza sighed and looked down. She began to ring out her shirt, which would now stain whether it was dry or not. She couldn't believe that there had been a time when she and Roy had actually been close.

"I mean, he's such an ass hole!" Rebecca continued. "He made me waste my iced coffee! I can't get through my day without my iced coffee!"

Riza glanced at her. Hadn't she said earlier that it _wasn't_ iced coffee?

"Yeah," Riza sighed, frowning down at her books. "He ruined my books."

Rebecca crossed her arms. "That idiot should buy you new ones."

"Like _that_ would ever happen," Riza mumbled, looking ahead. "The day Roy Mustang buys me new books is the day the sun crashes to the Earth."

Rebecca smirked. "And like _that'll_ ever happen."

No, it wouldn't. Riza just sighed, glancing away.

The peak of the school appeared just in the distance, outlined black against the blue sky. Riza swallowed as they approached, gossip muttering throughout the mesh of students. The smell of weed faintly hovered in the air.

"You ready?" Rebecca grinned, already scoping out the freshmen girls, her new soon-to-be targets of abuse of senior power.

Riza looked up, unsure. This was her senior year; her_ last_ year. So much was going to be decided. So much was going to change. So much so that Riza wasn't sure that she was ready for it, or wanted to see what would happen. She took a hesitant, small step towards the door.

"Yeah," she answered, inhaling. She held her breath. "I'm ready."

When it came to these sorts of things, sometimes all Riza could do was lie.

* * *

**A/N: Hey! You might be saying, "What, another high school AU fic?" But... I don't think there can be enough of them! XD **

**Anyways, this was inspired by a roleplay I did with my friend, so... she (she being fastestthingalive34) gets mucho credit! ;)**


	2. Hate

Roy hated the first day of school. He hated having to force himself out of bed only to listen to the same nonsense in every class that he had already heard on all eleven other first days of school he had the misfortune of attending. He hated the splattered mess of new students unable to find their classes, causing him to have to slow down in the hallways and be late to his own classes. He hated everyone pretending to be happy to see each other after a long summer, when if they had really wanted to see each other, they would have made the effort to do so outside of school in the first place. All in all, the first day of school was just a long bore with too many words for Roy's dormant mind to process.

After cursing in his mind at the freshman he was stuck behind his _whole way over_ to his first class of the day, he finally took a seat at his lab bench, sighing. He glanced around the room, watching students float around the classroom making pathetic small talk that went along the lines of, "How was your summer?" and followed by, "It was good, thanks. How was yours?" Despite this, the walls filled with posters of the periodic table and the shelves covered in racks of test tubes were enough to lighten his mood. After all, when it came to chemistry, there was no comparison between him and the rest of his classmates.

"Yo, Roy!"

Roy groaned inwardly and glanced lazily to the side.

"Hey, Hughes."

Hughes claimed the seat beside him with energy radiating off of him at such high levels it was a bit frightening. Roy couldn't handle this so early in the morning; and most certainly not on the first day of school.

"What's up?"

Roy sighed, yawning. "I'm just tired. I'm not used to getting up so early."

Hughes laughed, slapping Roy on the back. "Well then _wake up!_ You can't _afford_ to be tired right now!"

Roy practically jumped in his seat, taken off guard. He winced, rubbing his back.

"Jeeze, Hughes!" he growled, glancing angrily at his friend. Sometimes he questioned why exactly he was friends with him in the first place.

Hughes laughed. "There you go, wide awake! Which means," he stopped, bending over, rummaging through his backpack. Roy raised an eyebrow, not amused. He had a bad, familiar feeling. Hughes shot back up suddenly, grinning. "You can look at these photos of _Gracia _I took the other day! Isn't she _beautiful?_"

Roy growled and shoved the photos away. _"Hughes._ I don't _care_ about your pictures!"

Hughes face twisted into hurt and shock. "Roy, how can you _say_ that? These pictures are _stunning!"_

"Maybe to you," Roy muttered, unfazed. "But to me, they're just more pictures of Gracia."

"But _look_!" Hughes shoved the photos desperately into Roy's face. "Look at the lighting! The colors, the angles! The _technique! _I put a lot of effort and _heart _into these!"

Roy glanced over them quickly, and then rolled his eyes, beginning to organize his things. "The pictures are great, Hughes. But why are they always of Gracia? Why not of something – or some_one _– else?"

Hughes stared in disbelief. "Because she's the _perfect _model, and she _deserves_ to be a part of every single one of these photos!"

Roy merely sighed, annoyed, as Hughes stowed his photos carefully away.

"Although," Hughes said, glancing at Roy. "I _could_ make an exception, if you wanted me to snag a picture of a certain someone."

Roy glanced back at his friend, unfazed. "I'll pass."

"Are you sure?" Hughes asked, smiling slyly. "Not even if that person happened to be a Ms. Riza Hawkeye?"

Roy glared dangerously at his friend. "_Especially_ if that person is Riza Hawkeye."

Hughes leaned back in his chair. "Aw, come on. You wouldn't shut up all summer about how you couldn't see her. I thought that maybe a photo would," Hughes clutched his heart in an exaggerated motion, continuing on in a big, dramatic voice, "make the _separation_ between you two more _bearable!"_

"Hey!" Roy growled, glaring. "Shut up! When I said that I missed her I meant that I missed her reactions when I made fun of her!" Roy pointed a finger, _hard_, into Hughes's chest. "So unless you want to get me a picture of her _glaring_ then don't even _bother."_

Hughes grinned, putting a hand under his chin. "I could arrange that."

Roy was fuming. "_Hughes…_"

Hughes sighed, putting his hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine. But the offer's still on the table if you ever change your mind."

"I won't be changing my mind," Roy mumbled.

"Whatever you say, Roy."

"Alright class, settle down," a man called, entering the room. He smiled and folded his hands behind his back. "Good morning. I'm Dr. Marcho."

The class hushed down, their eyes all glazing over their teacher. Roy glanced around the room wearily, his chin resting against his hand, scanning his "fellow" classmates. He couldn't help but recognize some familiar faces.

Sitting in the back, fast asleep, was Edward Elric. Roy knew him pretty well – he was one of his main targets of teasing. He was humorously short for his age and never tried in school. In other words: a pathetic failure. In front was Winry Rockbell, straightening her five pencils out on her desk. Roy had never actually really talked to her, but she was the class president, and, well, president of anything else that needed a president. She was an over achiever. It was annoying. Sitting together were Ling and Lan Fan, passing notes like a couple of five year olds. He knew Ling by his wealth – he was the heir to some major corporation or something like that. Roy always cursed at him in his head; he wished sometimes that _he_ could have success thrust upon him from birth. He had to work hard for his status, and damn it, he worked _hard._ He spotted Havoc in the corner, still moping about Rebecca. He hadn't washed the coffee off of him. It was hopelessly sad. And speaking of the devil herself, Rebecca was found on the opposite side of the room sipping a new iced coffee that she had probably stolen from a freshman girl. If there was one person he truly _couldn't_ stand, it was _her._ He watched in disgust as she gossiped to Riza, who merely nodded, half paying attention, in response. Roy smirked to himself. So, Riza was in his class, huh? His spirits just got a little bit higher.

Dr. Marcho looked around the room slowly, pondering. He took his hands out from behind his back and held a small piece of paper, unfolding it neatly before him.

"Ah, yes…" he began, looking over his mystery paper. "Before we get started, I have some assigned seats for you."

"_What?_" Rebecca said, too loudly than necessary, sitting up quickly from her slouched position.

Dr. Marcho glanced up at her from his paper "Is that a problem, Ms. –"

_"Rebecca!_" Rebecca glared. "And _yes_, that _is_ a problem!"

Roy sighed, closing his eyes. Why was there always that one girl who fought so desperately hard over this inane issue? It didn't surprise him in the least that this one girl this time around happened to be Rebecca, though.

"Well, everyone must face problems in their life and overcome them," he said simply, looking back down at his list. "Now, in the front, Rebecca Catalina and Jean Havoc."

Roy raised his eyebrows, amused. He couldn't help but snicker to himself when he heard Rebecca's exasperated, "_What?_" and glanced to the side to see Havoc's face slowly fall in fear and hope.

"This is the part where you move, Ms. Catalina," Dr. Marcho said, and Roy watched in pleasure as Rebecca protested back until she realized Dr. Marcho wouldn't budge, and gathered her things in an overly dramatic, angry fashion before storming over to the desk and slamming herself down in her seat. Havoc shifted awkwardly and stood up, walking hesitantly over and sitting quietly beside her. He kept stealing glances at her, but would whimper every time Rebecca shot him a glare that could have been registered as a legal weapon.

Dr. Marcho sighed and continued on. "Next, Ling Yao and Lan Fan."

Roy rolled his eyes as the two smiled brightly and noted the fact that they were already together in their seats, and when Dr. Marcho nodded, Ling fist pumped the air, and they went back to their note passing. How annoying.

"In the back, Winry Rockbell and Edward Elric."

Now _this_ was interesting. Roy glanced over at Winry, who dropped her pencil. Little miss over achiever was being sent to the back of the room with the boy who was currently getting drool all over his desk.

"N-no, I… Can't I sit in the front?" Winry pleaded. Roy sighed and shook his head.

Dr. Marcho waved away any other protests she made with his hand, motioning her to the back. "The seats are filled. Now, Ms. Rockbell."

Winry winced and let out a small, "Yes," while gathering her things. She looked quite dejected as she made her stroll to her death (or at least, that's what she made it seem like she was doing by the way she walked) and sat down in her seat, frowning. She glanced at Ed and raised an eyebrow. Ed was still knocked out.

Dr. Marcho dismissed it and kept reading. "Next, Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang."

Roy's jaw dropped. Did he hear him correctly? He glanced over to Riza, who's eyed had widened. Damn it, apparently he _did_ hear right. Roy quickly turned to Hughes, his expression still the same, not knowing what to do about the situation.

Hughes just smiled slyly and nudged him in the shoulder. "Go on. Now you can see her face nonstop."

Roy growled and grabbed all of his books before heading over to his seat, but not before shoving Hughes's face down in his desk first. Riza stood up, slowly picking up her things, and walked over to the desk, reluctantly sitting down. Roy stared straight ahead, unfazed. Riza glanced at him for a moment, then looked down at her shirt, frowning.

Roy's eye caught Riza observing the stain on the bottom of her blouse. He leaned in, grinning, and whispered, "Nice shirt."

Riza blinked a few times, taken back, and then glared. "You ought to buy me a new one."

Roy snickered and crossed his arms, looking back forward. "No thank you."

"Jerk," Riza muttered, glaring deeper.

After arranging the remaining students, Dr. Marcho proceeded to read off the rules and curriculum for the class, also known as the useless crap he would have to hear in every other single one of his classes today.

He sighed and leaned back. This was such a waste of time. He could be sleeping right now. After what seemed like hours of painful dialogue, the bell saved Roy from practically killing himself.

"Don't forget to get all of your supplies for tomorrow!" Dr. Marcho called to the students making a mad dash for the door.

Riza sighed and stood up, and while she was putting away her books, Roy slid her pen slyly from her side of the desk. Riza looked over at him immediately, not amused.

"Give it back," she ordered shortly.

Roy stowed the pen in his pocket. "Give what back?"

"My _pen."_

Roy had his hands in his pockets. "I don't know what you're talking about, Riza." He began to walk towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to."

"Hey!" Riza growled and grabbed his arm. "That happens to be my _only_ pen!"

Roy glanced back at her, stopping. "I still don't know what you're talking about, Riza."

Riza glared more and dove for his pocket. Roy blinked a few times, taken off guard, then pulled her away, holding her wrist.

"Now, now, Riza. There's no need to be a thief." He let go of her wrist and brushed himself off. "Don't pickpocket me"

Riza's face fell. "But _you're _the thief!"

Roy merely shrugged and said, "I don't have your pen, Riza."

"You're so _infuriating!_" Riza yelled, pulling at her hair, frustrated.

Roy smirked, walking out of the room. "See you later, Riza."

* * *

"So how was it?"

Roy blinked, confused. "How was what?"

Hughes grinned. "Being united with your long lost lover, of course."

Roy was even more confused now. "What?"

_"Riza!"_

Roy stared at Hughes, very unfazed. After a moment longer he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen. "I got her pen," he said simply.

"You took it?" Hughes asked, tilting his head. "Why?"

"I don't know," Roy said, raising an eyebrow. He put the pen away in his backpack. "I could probably use it."

"You're going to keep it? Even though it belonged to _Riza Hawkeye?_"

Roy glanced at him. "It's a perfectly usable pen, Hughes. I'm not just gunna let it go to waste."

Hughes looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, you want to keep it because it belonged to her?"

"What are you going on about now?" Roy asked, unfazed.

Hughes grinned. "Well, _maybe_, you just want to be able to hold something in your hand that Riza had held in hers."

"Not a chance," Roy said. He grinned a little. "I mostly just want to see the look on her face when she sees _me_ using _her_ pen."

Hughes glanced at him. "So you want her to look at you."

"Not in that way, Hughes."

"It doesn't matter in what way it is," Hughes said, shrugging. "Either way you still want her eyes on you_._"

Roy scowled and shoved Hughes, looking back ahead. Hughes chuckled lightly and adjusted his glasses. The two walked together, Roy glaring the entire way.

He had found something he hated more than the first day of school.

Having a best friend who was smarter than him.

* * *

**A/N: ****I feel like intro chapters can be pretty boring... lukily there's only one more intro chapter after this one and then those are out of the way! As before, lots o credit goes to my friend, fastestthingalive34. I hope you're enjoying!**


	3. No Effort

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! I'm such a procrastinator, so this took a while to write. I'm going to try to be better about updating more frequently, though. I swear!**

**Disclaimer: FMA belongs to the genius that is Hiromu Arakawa.  
**

* * *

"Brother! Brother, wake up! Come on, brother, you have to get ready for school!"

Ed groaned and shut his eyes tighter as the banging on his door throbbed through his head. The words blurred together, and they echoed painfully in his body. The room was pitch black, and whatever little cracks of light that did manage to ooze in only suffocated in the darkness, dimly revealing the mess of crap that was his floor. He buried his face into his pillow.

"Go away, Al," he muffled lazily. He knew Al couldn't hear him, but Ed could spare no more effort.

A minute later all the noise ceased, and Ed sighed as he let his body become less tense.

"Brother."

Ed flinched. The word, simply and short, had become a hell of a lot louder than it had been a moment ago. He shifted in his sleep and glanced up at a black silhouette hovering over him. Ed hated how easy it was to pick the lock on his door.

"Leave me alone," Ed groaned pathetically into his pillow.

"No," Al said stubbornly, stripping the blankets from Ed. Ed curled up instantly, cursing under his breath.

"Don't you have to get ready?" grumbled Ed.

"I _am_ ready," Al said, frowning. "It's 6:50, brother!"

"You should go then, or you'll be late."

Al grabbed Ed's arm and began tugging forcefully. "No! Not without you!"

Ed stayed put. Al strained himself, pulling his weight backwards.

"Somebody has to drive me to school!" Al spoke, his voice sounding more pleading than anything.

Ed sighed deeply, irritated, and stayed quiet for a moment. "I don't want to go to school," he finally muttered.

"But it's your senior year! You have to graduate!"

"There's no point," Ed said quietly. "I don't care if I graduate."

Al frowned. "I do."

"We can't afford college," Ed pointed out bitterly.

"There are always scholarships!"

"No college will want me when they see my past records…"

Al said nothing for a while, staring at his brother. "… Please go to school, brother…"

Ed lay motionless in his bed, staring into his pillow. He glanced towards his brother and sighed. It took too much effort to get out of bed, but… it should be effortless to keep his brother from becoming upset because of _him._ Ed groaned one final time before struggling to sit up, rubbing his messy hair in annoyance. "Whatever," he mumbled finally.

Al's face twisted into a smile, one that made any effort on Ed's part worth anything. Ed yawned as he watched Al wheel out of the room.

"There's toast for you in the kitchen," Al said before leaving.

Ed blew his bangs out of his face and slowly stood from his bed. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn yesterday, not making the effort to change before he had crashed onto his bed the night before. He stared at himself in the mirror, deciding these clothes were probably okay enough to get him through another day. He trudged through what used to be his floor and winced at the sudden splash of light that spilled over him upon entering the kitchen.

"Come on, brother, we'll be late if we don't leave now."

Ed breathed in through his nose and exhaled from his mouth, grabbing a piece of toast and his keys from the table before leaving. "Then let's go."

* * *

"At least now that you're a freshman, driving to school is less of a pain," Ed muffled, a piece of toast stuffed in his mouth with both of his hands on the wheel.

Al smiled. "Yeah, it's great."

Ed glanced at him. "How do you feel about being a freshman, anyways?"

Al shrugged. "Alright. It's just one step closer to college, right?"

"Right," Ed sighed, gulping down the last of his toast.

"You could go to college too, you know…."

"We've already been over this, Al," Ed grumbled, annoyed. "I don't want to go to college."

Al looked out the window. "I know. But still…"

"Look, Al. I'm not changing my mind."

Al watched the world blur by, resting his head into the palm of his hand. "You know," he started, hesitating. "Dad's a well know professor at Central University… I bet… If you _tried…_ you could get in there…"

"I don't want to go to the same school _he's_ in!" Ed yelled, glaring sharply.

"He's not as bad as you make him out to be," Al muttered, sighing.

Ed glared deeply out of the front window. "He _abandoned_ us, Al."

Al slumped into his chair. "He's busy…"

Ed growled, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Too busy to send us a card on our birthdays? Too busy to call us on Christmas day? No man is _that_ busy, Al."

Al winced. "I guess…"

"Just face it, Al. The man's a bastard. He never cared about you, or me, or even mom."

"Brother…"

"He didn't even come to her _funeral," _he whispered harshly.

Al glanced out the window, quiet. "… We're almost at the school."

Ed didn't say anything. A long, thick silence clouded through the car.

"I'm excited," Al said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well I'm glad one of us is."

Al smiled, sounding confident. "I'm going to get good grades, get into a good college and then," he glanced at Ed, "I'm going to find a way to help us, brother."

Ed kept his eyes forward. He glanced at the mirror above him and saw a folded chair in the back seat. He looked back ahead. "… Just worry about yourself, Al."

"No. I'm going to help the _both_ of us."

Ed sighed, irritated, but didn't say another word. He pulled into a parking space and opened the trunk, pulling out the chair. He helped Al out of the car and Al smiled as he began wheeling himself towards the school, Ed beside him. After parting ways, Ed walked through the crowded hallway, his hands stuffed into his pockets. He felt angry and tired and no part of him wanted to be here right now. No part of him wanted to make this much effort.

"Ow!"

Ed stumbled, caught off guard, and spun around quickly. Next to him was a girl, rubbing her head soothingly. Ed winced slightly and felt a small ache himself on his forehead. Had he really been _that_ out of it?

"I'm sorry," the girl spoke, snapping Ed from his thoughts. She smiled nervously. "It was my fault."

Ed raised an eyebrow, annoyed. "Yeah," he muttered. "It was your fault."

The girl's face fell. Clearly she expected him to take the blame. Clearly she didn't know who he was. "E…Excuse me?"

"You should watch more where you're going," Ed continued, unfazed.

"I…" the girl looked baffled. "Do you know who I am?"

Ed scanned her. Her buttoned blouse was tucked into her skirt, and her hair was neatly tied back into a pony tail. She looked pretty prissy, if you asked him. "No," he said. "And I don't care."

Her mouth fell open, apparently very offended. "I'm Winry Rockbell. The _class president!"_

_ "_Wow," Ed rolled his eyes. "I'm _so_ not impressed."

Winry became flustered, glaring. "W-what?"

"Look, I'm just trying to get to my class. "

"What's your name?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Ed sighed, irritated. "Ed."

"Well, listen here, _Ed_," she said harshly, pointing at him. "It's _rude_ to not apologize when you bump into someone!"

"I'm not a very polite person," Ed replied shortly.

Winry growled, frustrated. "Apparently not!"

"You're annoying," Ed muttered. Her eyes widened. "Now I'm going to class."

And before Winry could get another word in, he left, his body throbbing with anger. It was too much effort to deal with people, and even more to be _nice_ to them. So he avoided every glance he got in the hallway, and he slumped into his seat in Chemistry class, falling asleep before anyone could steal the chance to speak to him.

He was unaware, however, that a certain class president had been sitting next to him the entire period.

Ed would find out that it would take too much effort _not_ to talk to her.

* * *

**A/N: Alright! This is the last of the intro chapters, so I'm pretty happy about that. Now actual stuff can start happening! The perspectives that most chapters will be based around will be Roy, Riza and Ed. Sometimes there might be others scattered here and there, depending what's going down. Just a heads up. **

**And, as always, lots of credit goes to fastestthingalive34 :) **


	4. Options

**A/N: Sorry this is chapter's so short! But I wanted to post _something_ since I feel bad I haven't updated in a little while. **

**Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to the genius that is Hiromu Arawkawa. **

* * *

"Can you believe Maria and Denny are _dating_ now?"

Riza glanced over at Rebecca. She had a wad of lettuce stuffed in her mouth, crumbs splattering over her plastic container. Her hand twitched a little as she looked down at her napkin.

"I mean, Denny's such a wuss! Maria could do _so _much better!"

Riza's hand inched towards the napkin, slowly pinching it between two fingers. She eyed Rebecca's mouth.

"And it's not like Maria has trouble getting guys, either. I mean that kid from that gang always stares at her funny – oh, what was his dumb gang name? Envy? Well, either way – mhmph!"

Rebecca's eyes widened. Riza had stuffed the napkin in her mouth in one swift motion. Rebecca quickly turned her head to Riza, her eyes full of confusion and anger. Riza merely sat still, sipping her water as if nothing had happened. Rebecca growled in her throat and swallowed hard, wincing, and then spit out the napkin.

"Riza! What the hell! I was _gossiping!_"

Riza shrugged and glanced at her. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to talk with food in your mouth?"

Rebecca scowled. "My mother didn't teach me shit."

"I always like hearing Rebecca's stories," Ling said, smiling. "They're fun to listen to."

"They're not stories," Lan Fan said matter-of-factly. "It's gossip."

"… Oh…" Ling said, as if he understood. Lan Fan shook her head. He didn't understand.

Rebecca sighed dramatically. "There's no good gossip at this school, anyways. Everyone here is totally boring."

"I think it's a good thing our school has a good reputation," Winry said, satisfied.

"Says the class president," Rebecca muttered, sipping her iced coffee. Riza had to wonder where she obtained all of these.

"Well, what about that gang?" Riza pointed out.

Rebecca scoffed. "Those seven deadly losers are just that – losers. The fact that they're pathetic is no gossip to me."

"Is that so? Well," Riza glanced at Rebecca casually, "I heard that Jean started dating one of them. The one called Lust."

Everyone's eyes fell on Rebecca. Her iced coffee had fallen from her hand and had crashed onto the floor, spilling everywhere. Riza counted in her head.

_One… two… three…_

Rebecca stood up, making a lot of noise as she pushed away her chair aggressively. She slammed each one of her heels into the cement ground as she stormed over to Havoc, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. The remaining four watched in slight amusement, but only for a moment. This was a sight they were more than used to.

"You know, Riza," Winry started, ignoring Rebecca's shrieks from across the room, "I was thinking about getting my ears pierced."

Riza blinked, taken back. "Really? What made you decide this?"

Winry smiled shyly. "Actually, I just liked the way they looked on you, so…"

Riza's mouth opened a little in awe before twisting into a smile, laughing under her breath. "It's actually funny that you say that."

Winry blinked. "Why's that?"

"Because I was actually thinking about growing my hair out," Riza admitted, smiling, "because of how much I liked the way _your_ hair looked."

Winry's face lit up, but before she could respond, a voice broke in.

"Whoa, whoa, _wait._ My best friend is _growing out her hair?_"

Riza sighed. She didn't need to look back. "I thought you were talking with Jean."

"Don't say his name," Rebecca hissed.

"You mean you didn't patch things up?" Ling asked, tilting his head.

"No!" Rebecca growled. "He said he wanted to _move on._ Can you believe him?"

"Well, you _did_ break up with him," Riza said, unfazed.

Rebecca whined. "Riza! Feel bad for me! I was planning on going to homecoming with him!"

Riza paused. She had completely forgotten about homecoming.

"Oh! A dance!" Ling beamed, looking at Lan Fan. "We should go together."

Lan Fan smiled. "Sure."

Rebecca groaned in disgust at them and pointed. "Riza, look! Even the _Xingese_ kids have dates! I'm going to be such a loser!"

Riza shrugged. "I wasn't even planning on going, in all honesty."

Rebecca stared at her if she was crazy. "Not going? Riza! You can't be _serious!_"

"I don't have a date, anyways," Riza muttered, picking at her food.

Rebecca crossed her arms. "I'll find dates. For _both _of us." She glanced at Winry. "And who are _you_ going with, Miss President?"

Winry blinked. "Well, I wasn't really planning on going with anybody. I'm more going to overlook the events." She smiled. "But if a boy were to ask me, I wouldn't mind going with a date."

Rebecca sighed sadly. "My life is so hard."

"It's tragic," Riza said, rolling her eyes.

"Well," Rebecca huffed, scanning the cafeteria. Riza thought she looked a bit like a lion stalking its prey. "Which one of these lucky loser guys is going to make Jean totally jealous at homecoming?"

* * *

"So I asked Gracia to homecoming," Hughes announced, grinning. "I was pretty nervous. But I did it!"

Roy looked at him, unfazed. "Nervous? What are you talking about? You're _dating_ her!"

"I know! That's why I wanted to ask her!"

Roy's eye twitched. He resisted the urge to slam his fist into Hughes's face.

"So, any idea on who _you_ might wanna take?" Hughes asked, glancing at him.

"I haven't given it much thought," Roy muttered, staring at his food. "I wonder who Riza's going with."

"Riza's never gone to homecoming before," Hughes said, shrugging. "So I don't see why she would this year."

"Yeah, because she's too much of a loser to get a date," Roy sighed, leaning back in his chair.

Hughes gave him a small smile. "You should ask her."

Roy closed his eyes. "Very funny, Hughes."

"I'm being serious."

Roy sighed, annoyed, and sat up straight. "Riza Hawkeye hates me. I'm the last person she'd want to go to homecoming with." He looked over to see Hughes smiling slyly at him, and then he cleared his throat, adding quickly, "And she'd be the last person _I'd_ want to go with too, of course."

Hughes chuckled. "Just a thought. I mean, maybe you two aren't close now, but… you used to be. Going with each other might be nicer than going with just anybody."

Roy blew some of his bangs out of his face, glancing away. "… Maybe I'll ask Vanessa."

Hughes sighed and shook his head. "I think you'd have a good time with Riza."

"I _told_ you, Hughes. She hates me."

Hughes glanced at him. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah," Roy muttered. "I did something pretty terrible to her, after all."

Hughes stayed quiet for a while. "… Do you really hate Riza, Roy?"

Roy was staring down at his untouched food. He sighed and pushed away his tray. "I should probably go and find Vanessa."

"Find her later," Hughes said, waving it off. He glanced over at Roy, who was staring at Riza across the cafeteria.

"I wonder what Riza does while everyone else is at homecoming…" Roy said absentmindedly after a few moments, leaning his cheek against the palm of his hand.

"Probably nothing," Hughes said. "She probably just sits around and reads… or something."

Roy scoffed quietly. "… That sounds pretty sucky."

Hughes closed his eyes. "I bet she gets pretty lonely."

Roy leaned forward, glancing down at his food again, unfazed. His eyes were full of confliction. Hughes watched, interested.

"… I should throw away all of this," Roy finally said, standing up. "Lunch is almost over."

Hughes watched him, crossing his arms. "… Yeah, alright… Can you get my things, too?"

Roy sighed and scraped up his food. "You're such a pain."

Hughes offered a smile. "As friends should be."

Roy rolled his eyes and headed off towards the trash can. Hughes leaned back in his chair and watched in amusement, a smile slowly growing on his face as he watched Roy walk past the nearest barrel and towards the one on the other side of the cafeteria, slowing down as he tossed everything away, looking casually towards Riza as he did so.

Hughes laughed to himself. Roy was so obvious.

* * *

**A/N: Hopefully I won't take so long to make another update, considering I'm in vacation right now! Anyways, I hope you're enjoying :)**


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